Bitcoin hit a new all-time high on Friday as investors continued to build part of their limited supply. The ether futures market also posted records as derivatives traders examine the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
- Bitcoin (BTC) starts trading at around $ 39,304 as of 9:00 PM UTC (4:00 PM ET). Gain of 0.64% in the last 24 hours.
- Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $ 36,579 to $ 41,962 (CoinDesk 20)
- BTC below the 10-hour average but above the 50-hour moving average on the hourly chart, a sideways signal for market technicians.
Bitcoin trading on Bitstamp since January 5th.
Source: TradingView
New all-time highs are the topic of the day again on Friday. Bitcoin price hit record levels for the third day in a row. Around 15:00 UTC (10 a.m. ET), the price of Bitcoin changed hands at $ 41,962, according to CoinDesk 20 data. The price has gone down since then and was $ 39,304 at the time of going to press.
Continue reading: Over $ 41,000: Bitcoin continues to make new highs
“BTC is currently in high demand and limited supply pricing,” said Joel Edgerton, chief operating officer of Bitflyer USA. “Everyone who holds Bitcoin thinks it will go higher, so hold on.”
According to data aggregator Glassnode, the current supply of Bitcoin is 18,594,037 BTC – and investors can’t seem to get enough of the world’s oldest cryptocurrency.
“The persistently relentless money flowing into BTC from institutional and some retail buyers is creating a significant positive drift,” said Chad Steinglass, trading director of derivatives firm CrossTower. “As more and more coins are blocked for long-term investment and essentially withdrawn from circulation, the available inventory is getting tighter.”
The Bitcoin supply in circulation over the past five years (orange), overlaid with dotted price lines, halves the events.
Source: Glassnode
“Anyone without BTC is afraid of missing out and wants to buy,” added Edgerton of OkCoin. “Borrow [U.S. dollar] Stablecoins for buying BTC is the Crypto Carry Trade. ”
The top three stablecoins – tether (USDT), US dollar coin (USDC), and Dai (DAI) – have a combined market cap of $ 28 billion, a large part of which is tether, according to CoinGecko – $ 22,916,992,958 Dollar.
Tether market capitalization and volume last year.
Source: CoinGecko
“The doors are fully open and buying pressure has increased massively throughout the year based on macro cycles, COVID-19, the US elections and a sense of general concern,” said Henrik Kugelberg, an over-the-counter Bitcoin trader. “In the short term, I expect a setback of maybe 15%, but it will just be a bump in the massive bull run – $ 100,000 this year is entirely possible!”
Continue reading: Why Joe Biden’s $ 3T Stimulus Package Could Add Fuel to Bitcoin Rally
Actions in the Bitcoin derivatives market have also been strong. Jason Lau, chief operating officer of the San Francisco-based exchange OKCoin, noted that nearly $ 1 billion in liquidations took place there on Thursday. “Most of these liquidations were longs and it was the third highest amount since November.”
With BitMEX alone, liquidations totaling over 100 million US dollars have been made on the Bitcoin market of the venue in the last three days. $ 65 million in buy liquidations signaled short traders were under pressure, up from $ 42 million in the crypto equivalent of a margin call for long positions.
Bitcoin liquidations on BitMEX in the past three days.
Source: Skew
In the options market, Denis Vinokourov, head of research at Brokerage Bequant, noted that traders like the $ 36,000 strike price for bitcoin.
Bitcoin options based on the previous day’s exercise price
Source: Skew
“Given the oversized focus on Bitcoin’s $ 36,000 worth of option strike for option expiration in late January, which comes with a number of optional games and risks, Bitcoin is being separated from fundamentals, so to speak,” Vinokourov told CoinDesk . “It will be interesting to see if the market can differentiate this bitcoin risk from the rest of the market.”
Ether futures with an interest rate of $ 3.7 billion
Ether (ETH) fell on Friday, trading at $ 1,159, and fell 6.5% in the space of 24 hours at 9:00 PM UTC (4:00 PM ET).
Continue reading: Ethereum 2.0 explained in 4 simple metrics
On January 1, the Open Interest (OI) for Ether Futures in major derivatives was $ 2 billion. On Thursday, OI was up 85% to a record $ 3.7 billion, according to aggregator Skew. Binance led the way with an OI of $ 820 million, representing over 20% of the total ether futures market.
Ether futures opened interest rates on major exchanges last month.
Source: Skew
“The ETH has still not reached its all-time high of over 1,400 US dollars,” said Brian Mosoff, CEO of the investment firm Ether Capital. “So far there has been less access to investing in ether compared to Bitcoin. We are waiting for the upcoming start of the CME [ether] Future community members who are more crypto-native and have fewer restrictions on holding ETH will likely try to push the launch forward. “
Other markets
Digital assets on CoinDesk 20 are on Red Friday. Notable Losers as of 9:00 PM UTC (4:00 PM ET):
- Oil rose 3%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate Crude: $ 52.48.
- Gold was in the red at 3.4% and at $ 1,848 at press time.
- The US 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.110 on Friday and is in the green by 2.5%.
The CoinDesk 20: The assets that matter most to the market
